Ferguson's season ended by knee injury

Callum Ferguson, the Australian one-day batsman, will be out for up to a year after tests revealed he requires a reconstruction of the right knee he injured in the Champions Trophy final. Ferguson will have an operation on his anterior cruciate ligament in the next week and the best-case scenario is a six-month layoff, which rules him out of the home summer.

Ferguson, 24, hurt himself while fielding in the decider in South Africa and knew the injury was serious, but he had to wait until he got home for a full diagnosis. He learned of his fate on Saturday after seeing a specialist in Adelaide.

"It's not a shock, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing," Ferguson said in Adelaide.
"As soon as it happened I felt a good, decent tear and heard it as well, so that wasn't a good sign, and the physio wasn't too confident either.

"I'm pretty sure it'll be nine to 12 months, nine months will leave me with a few months to get ready for the Shield season, and there'd be no point in rushing." Trefor James, Cricket Australia's doctor, said the recovery would take between six and 12 months.

Bracken on way back after operation

Nathan Bracken, who missed the Champions Trophy, had successful arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in Sydney on Friday. "He will commence rehabilitation immediately with a view to him returning to cricket during the Australian summer," Dr Trefor James said.

Bracken, 32, faces a tough road back to prove he remains a potent limited-overs operator. "I don't think it's great but Nathan has had his history of knee problems," Jamie Cox, the national selector, said in the Australian. "He has his own challenges to get back in. As a fast bowler, a lot more strain goes through that joint. He will have some battles ahead.

"He has certainly been in the top-five one-day bowlers for a while now. His experience will be missed. We have progressed a group of fast bowlers who can stand up at any time. Nathan has been a key component in that, but they still won a Champions Trophy without him. He will be back at some stage, for sure." In 116 ODIs he has picked up 174 wickets at 24.36.

The timing is unfortunate for Ferguson, who had averaged 46.07 in 25 games since making his debut in February. He suffered a similar injury before the Under-19 World Cup in 2004.

"It's not something I was hoping to come home with, but I've had a pretty good 12 months," he said. "I've had lots of opportunities and I'm just glad it didn't happen 18 months ago. It'll be probably frustrating watching the Redbacks boys run around, but the timing's neither here nor there, there's plenty of cricket on around the world 12 months of the year."

While Ferguson's short-term international ambitions are over, he will also miss the opportunity to help South Australia's push for silverware. The Redbacks didn't expect Ferguson to spend much of the season with them due to his Australian duties and had already planned their batting order without him.

Their first chance of the summer comes in Tuesday's Sheffield Shield game against Tasmania at the Adelaide Oval. Showers are forecast during a cool week and the conditions led the Redbacks to cut Cullen Bailey, the legspinner, from their squad. Aaron O'Brien takes on the slow-bowling duties on what is expected to be a green surface.